Tape Tips

Fragile tissue patterns tear easily, especially your favorites that you use again and again. Mending a tear with ordinary tape is fine, but many brands melt when pressing the pattern. In contrast, you'll find that paper surgical tape easily takes the heat. It's inexpensive and is available at pharmacies in dispensers resembling adhesive tape.

Those of you who save just about everything will appreciate the following tape trick. You know the problem: just finding the end of clear, sticky-backed tape on the roll is a challenge, let alone keeping it from shredding when pulled from the roll. You can turn tape back over on itself to make a tab, but here's an even easier solution: Use the yellow, plastic twist-lock tabs found on bread-loaf packages in the grocery store. Simply stick the tape's end to the tab, which is easy to find.